FUCKING, Austria — It's safe to say that Lord Focko had no idea the village named after him would one day become a sanctuary for English-speaking sex tourists.

Since Focko's death some 600 years ago, the village's name has gone through various incarnations, from Fukching to Fugkhing, until settling in its current, widely popular spelling, Fucking.

"It is pronounced fooking," insists the woman at the area information center in the Austrian town of Braunau am Inn. Other than that, she doesn't have any information on the village, aside from a piece of firm, if mildly annoyed advice: "There is nothing to do in Fucking. There isn't even a hotel."

Turns out she is wrong on both counts. But not terribly wrong.

Only three types of tourists apparently venture to this area: those who want to take in the beautiful Alpine scenery, those who want to see Adolf Hitler's birthplace in Braunau, and those who want to visit Fucking, which tend to be the same sort of people interested in climbing the nearby mountain called Wank.

According to "Fucking Travel Tips" on the website Virtual Tourist, the number one thing to do in Fucking is "seeing the road signs," which summarizes the sightseeing potential of the village quite precisely. But the lack of excitement hasn't stopped hordes of prim young British tourists from making a pilgrimage to pay their respects to Lord Focko each year.